Latina's 5 Best Books of 2010

The Red Umbrella by Christina Diaz Gonzalez

Teenage Lucia thinks that the Cuban revolution has nothing to do with her and prefers to obsess over an upcoming dance until she witnesses the brutal public hanging of her father’s boss. The family is separated as Lucia’s parents send her siblings to the United States, where the former child of privilege winds up in a foster home in Nebraska. Based on the true story of Gonzalez’s parents, this first novel captures the heart-wrenching affects of the hard choices families are sometimes forced to make.